Gladys Monterroso Velasquez, wife of the Human Rights Ombudsman – Sergio
Morales – was kidnapped on 25 March 2009, tortured and later freed by her captors. Sergio Morales declared in a press conference that he did not know the motives of the abduction, Three unknown persons wearing balaclavas kidnapped Mrs Velasquez while she was driving to a restaurant in zone 10 of the capital. She was freed 14 hours later in the Colonia Atlantida, in Zone 18. Morales confirmed that Gladys Monterroso had suffered physical and psychological trauma during the kidnap. The ombudsman stated that a month earlier he had formally reported a plan to assassinate him and related the recent attack on his family with these threats. Monterroso Velasquez, who is also a member of the political party Encuentro por Guatemala (Guatemalan Unity), entered a private medical centre, and remained in a ‘stable’ condition, according to
unofficial sources.